Femme Fatale - Planar Anomalies: What are you?!?!?

First off let me start off my saying Happy Birthday Mum!!! Because it's her birthday, but I'm sure you deduced that when I said Happy Birthday Mum.  Of course I am making her dinner tonight, a fish dish with salmon, swordfish, and tuna!  Along with some other yummies!

Now onto the polish. Femme Fatale Planar Anomalies, is quite the anomaly.  On the website it says that this colour is almost impossible to photograph.  I though "Pffffftttttt bring it on, I will capture you one way or another".  It's safe to say my photos show you pieces of this polish but I wasn't able to show you all the pieces together.  I failed you. *Hangs head in shame*.

Planar Anomalies is another glitter polish.  It has a black base that is full of micro shimmer that shifts between green-pink.  It is also full of tiny, small and medium holographic glitter and tiny, small, medium, large and extra large black matter glitter.  Indoors the polish is very unassuming.  It's like one of those people you see and you think, "There's something about you... I don't know what it is.  You're interesting to look at and you're pretty, but I feel like there's something else to you".  Then you see it in the sunlight and you think "You sparkly majestic creature you!".  (That sounded like Twilight, but my review has a much better storyline).  When I took it out in the sun the shift between green and pink was really there.  There was actually a lot of green shimmer going on but for some reason I could not get it on camera as I saw it.  Also another thing that this pictures don't show you is just how holo it was,  it was going super crazy in the sun.  And the black glitter isn't obvious, but you can see it.  It's has this really neat subtle look to it.  I decided to use one coat over my Essence black.  It was easy to put on but could get a bit finicky if you started playing with it.

Overall I really love this.  It is super unique and again like Tricky Treats was super easy to use especially when you see all the glitter in it.

If you would like a bottle full size bottles are 12ml and you can find them online at Llarowe (USA), Harlow & Co (Canada),Shoppe Eclecticco & Beauty so Fly (Singapore), Ledouxnuage (France) and Norway Nails (Norway).  They are $13 USD but of course that price will vary slightly depending where you get them. And if you are in Australia you can order straight through them!

 Best shot I could get of the holo

 Natural light, indoors

 One coat without base colour

*Product was sent for honest review.

Nail Night!: Are you giving me hamburger nails?

So Robyn and I decided to have a nail night the other night.  The plan was simple.  Have a few drinks and do each others nails, but the other person had no clue what they were going to get.  But long story short, Robyn gave me pretty orange, black and gold nails and I gave her burger nails.

With real sesame seeds.

What did you expect from me?  Normal?

Robyn's manicure she did for me was an orange skittle design.  I personally don't do many skittle because for some reason coming up with ideas for more than two nails that are different is difficult for me. I loved the orange she used.  I can't think of the name right now but it's from a recent OPI collection.  The black studs did bleed a bit I should add.  But to my surprise the black striping tape did not!  I Don't know where she bought it but it held up well!

Note from Robyn: The orange is OPI A Roll In The Hague, stamped/striped with Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold, and the glitter is Milani 531 Gold. Striping tape from Born Pretty Store.The studs are from this fun little package that I got for my birthday!

These are burger nails.  I did them for Robyn.  They are majestic.  I used OPI's Over the Taupe, acrylic paint and sesame seeds.  I had to buy a bagel bun and scrape them off.  I treated the seeds like I would nail studs.  Then I finished with top coat so they didn't fall off/get wet.

Note from Robyn: I just finished watching Metalocalypse and all I could think was HAMBURGER TIME.

Do you guys ever have nail nights?

3D Lego Nails!

Ugh As soon as clicked on the new post button, the new post page loaded and then my internet immediately cut out!  It obviously was down a few days ago when the power went our but for the past few weeks it's been finicky in general.  Anyways I hope you had a great few days.  I had a new first!  A man followed me the other day!  Luckily is was by a busy road, and when I lost him I went and hid in a store for a bit.

Now onto things that aren't creepy men!

I've been wanting to do 3D nails for a while now but wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  I knew I didn't want anything too over the top, or something that would interfere with me doing things.  So a few nights ago I was looking at The Daily Nail's site, and I came across these Lego nails.  Not only did I think they looked nifty, I thought I could do something like that but actually make it 3D.

First I painted my nails the base colour of whatever the block was going to be.  Next I placed between 2-6 pieces of KKCenterHk gold circular glitter down depending on how many bumps the block was going to have.  After that I got out some nail glue, placed a tiny bit on each piece of glitter, and stacked another piece of glitter on top of the original piece.  Then I repeated that step so each of the bumps consisted of 3 pieces of glitter.  When that was done I got out my acrylic paint and painted over just the bumps, focusing on the sides.  Following that I went over the entire nail with the acrylic paint (you may need to do this more than once if the base colour of polish is slightly different than the paint).  Finally I topped it of with a couple thin coats of top coat.

Note:  My pinky finger was done entirely with polish because I didn't have the shade of green I wanted in paint.  While you can do this entirely with polish I found it much easier with paint.  Not only that but I found the bumps were more more defined with paint.

What do you guys think of 3D nails?  Thoughts on creepy men?

Born Pretty Store Glittah! + Happy Belated Blogiversary to Us!

Let me start with a big THANK YOU to all out followers old and new.  It was exactly a year ago(lie: It was a year and 4 days ago) that I decided to start this blog.  And since then it has grown not only in followers but in bloggers.  *starts to cry*  I would also like to say thank you to my family and friends and everyone who helped make this blog what it is.  Also I would like to thank <insert deity of choice>.  I could not have done this without you.  I'm sure a phenomenal giveaway will be happening in the near future.  That's when the real shindig starts ;)

Now back to my review!  So I was sent these glitters from the Born Pretty Store!  They are hexagonal glitter that come in 12 different colours!  Dark blue, light blue, pink, silver, iridescent white, gold, yellow, red, orange, lavender, silver-gold and green.  All the colours of Josephs coat and it doesn't come with jealous brothers.  WIN!

First off I almost didn't post these nails.  Because when it came down to it I thought I could have done better.  But then I thought no.  Even if it may not be the best it's just good to see.

So I figured I have all the colours of the coat(Joseph again) why not do some sort of rainbow pattern.  So I did rainbow tips on each finger and then did a rainbow accent.  The glitter was easy to use.  A tad messy(but it is loose glitter).  I used tape to pick up glitter that fell around me.  Now I kind of wished I had used a lighter colour base but I had to take some photos for something else and I was worried a base like white would stand out too much.  Also maybe it was a bit because of the black base but taking photos was a nightmare.  Some angles you would see some colours and the other would vanish, and vice versa.

Overall despite the fact that it wasn't my best I still did like it.  And I'm am super excited to give these another go and show you something that will knock your mismatched socks off!

If you want to buy these you can get them from the Born Pretty Store for $6.45!  And Shipping is FREE!  You can also use our code(EAL91) and get a 10% discount on whatever you buy!

 

 Use this code to get 10% of whatever you buy! Huzzah!

*Product was sent for honest review

Why wont you photograph Chunky Holo Fuchsia?

So this is the first of the 6 polish I have from the Kleancolor Chunky Holo collection.  I could not get this to photograph the way I wanted to.  Not in my lightbox, not in the sun, not in the shade and not underwater.  But I still got a few decent shots.

Out of all the colours this was also the hardest to pair for some reason.  I had nothing I wanted to pair it with.  But then I remember seeing a swatch on The PolishAholic that used Revlon Royal as a base and this. So I decided to give it a go.  For the base I used Ruby Kissed Blue My Mind. Then 2 coats of the Kleancolor.

Fuchsia is well a translucent fuchsia polish filled with iridescent glitter a la Nubar 2012.  In most lights this looks like embers.  It's really near because it's sparkly but not too much so.  Then when you take it out into the sun that's when she really shines and you see all the colours of her rainbow!  Well mostly red, orange and green.  She's a very limited rainbow.  But pretty still :)

 

I would say this is pretty much what it looks like most of the time in real life and with indoor lighting.  Less green though.

 

Under the sea! By sea I mean bucket of water.

Ps. I am soooooooooo tired right now so sorry for the sleepy review.   Anyways I already know what I want to pair the others with so I'm excite for that!

Cult Nails I Got Distracted

So Cult Nails have fast established themselves as one of my favourite brands.  Compared to others, their polishes wear beautifully, and Maria comes up with colours that are both unique and totally wearable.  And let's not forget that fabulous formula that just GLIDES onto the nail.

So I was a little bit skeptical when I saw that Maria's 13-year-old daughter Coco was creating her own collection.  I was a little worried it would be too obnoxious even for me!  Well, obviously I was wrong because I bought two of the polishes.  You already saw Annalicious... so I present I Got Distracted!

Now, for people who know me, this would be almost criminally hilarious.  My former college roommate won't let me sit facing reflective surfaces when we go out to eat together because I'll get distracted by reflections of TVs, people walking by, all sorts of things.  I am nothing if not easily distracted.  I have, as Robyn(guest blogger extraordinaire) says, "the attention span of a fly".

This polish is amazing.  Seriously one of the most amazing polishes I've ever owned.  It's a black jelly base with holographic microglitter, green microglitter, and larger green hexes.  It comes alive in the light and kind of looks like a witch's cauldron, simmering away with some wonderful magic.  This is two thin coats with Wicked Fast topcoat.

Macro shot!  Knocked my tips a little, but check out those beautiful glitters!

Quickie post + PRIDE NAILS 2012!

So I have been conspicuously absent recently, and this will probably continue for another week and a half/two weeks.  You see, my family and I are moving shortly, and packing up our house is a busy, busy process.  Also I am still kind of in denial because I love my childhood home and moving is stupid.

BUT ANYWAY, enough of my wet-blanket-ness.  As you saw, Kas and I love Pride, and we attended two Prides this year.  In NYC I didn't do anything too exciting with my nails as they needed a bit of TLC.  So I waited til Toronto to really have fun with them.

I started with my favourite disco-ball sparkle nails: one thin coat of OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvellous with another coat of OPI Crown Me Already, but this time to add a bit of rainbow sparkle with a thin coat of Wet N Wild Kaleidoscope.

After that, I took a thin brush and used it to write HAPPY on my left hand and PRIDE on my right.  I blended the colours in each letter a little(though not as much as I would've liked, but hey, first shot) so I could have a fuller rainbow and not leave anything out.

For the lettering I used: Essie Too Too Hot, Finger Paints Outta Sight Orange, Kleancolor Neon Yellow, China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, OPI Dating a Royal, and Urban Outfitters Bandeau.

So what do you guys think?  Did any of you do Pride nails?

Claire's Candy Shop!

So this is decidedly more me!  I'm still rocking the Essie/Nubar combo(5 days strong, what is this magic??) but I wanted to show you a swatch I did before I put that on.

So I finally found Candy Shop at Claires, and I was SO psyched to try it and let me say, it does not disappoint!  I'm sure the Lippmann one is great, but to be frank, I like a brighter pink.  This colour is really beautiful, a really nice pink shade, and the variety of glitter is great.  Even with all the glitter, it applied very easily and I had to do very little placing of glitter.  It distributed evenly and levelled quite nicely, though it's not smooth and needs an extra layer of top coat if smoothness is a priority for you.

This is 2.5 coats(I wouldn't say it's a FULL third coat because for the third I just touched on a little extra glitter on a few spots that needed it).  Great coverage too.

As you can see, while it's levelled nicely, it's not very smooth.  

This is with one coat of Essie Good To Go.

What do you think of Candy Shop?  

Is it on your wish list?

OPI Crown Me Already

Just a reminder to follow us on twitter at ValkyrieNails!  There will be some very special stuff going on there in the future and if you're on twitter, you won't want to miss out.

Now HERE's a polish that I'm not surprised I love.  Obnoxious silver glitter?  Sign me up!  When the Miss Universe collection came out, I saw this and knew it would be mine.  I love the wide variety of glitter in this polish, and I love that it looks like I have a disco ball on my nails.  It just reflects so much light and almost glows.

Photos do this no justice, it truly is stunning in person.  This is one of my favourite manicures to do because it makes me feel like a fancy pirate princess.  I think it was Scrangie who said this looks like a treasure chest and she was totally right.  It's so magical.

This is two thin coats over one thin coat of China Glaze Icicle.  I tend to wear it like that just to cover up any bald spots.

Just look at the sparkle!

Do any of you own Crown Me Already?  How do you wear it?  What's your favourite glitter?

New contributer!

Hi polish fanatics!

I'm George, and I'm Kas's best friend and fellow polish addict who will now be contributing here!  I had my own blog briefly, but we decided it was silly to be separate, so I'm moving over here!

A little about me:  In addition to nails and nail-related posts, I'm a skincare junkie, so I will be posting reviews for skincare products too.  I love glitter, bright colours, and all things eye-catching, so my posts will be leaning more toward the crazier end of the scale.  I have a few neutrals that are basically relegated to the "job interviews and tea with the queen" part of my polish rack.  The gaudier, the more I'll love it.

So, to introduce you all to me and my style, here are some recent favourite manicures from me!

Valentine's Day.  Very subdued for me but still cute.  Still mastering small details on my non-dominant hand, so the other middle finger had a larger heart and spots.  Obviously took this pre-cleanup.  Polishes used:  Illamasqua Load and Illamasqua Throb.  Couldn't resist those names!

 Dots - These are quite old, and I used OPI's Fly and Did It On Em from the Nicki Minaj collection. 

China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Pure Ice Crushed.  Pure Ice Crackles are the best I've found.  Excellent formula cracks like a dream. 

Explosions with OPI's Fly and Did It On Em.  In case you couldn't tell, I'm a little obsessed with these colours.  Another pre-cleanup shot. 

Excuse the old blackberry picture!  These were my NYE 2011 nails.  Polishes used:  Zoya Julieanne, OPI Last Friday Night, Sally Hansen Urban Chic(China Glaze Fairy Dust is a dupe), and Orly Glitz and Glamour. 

Goldfish scale nails with Finger Paints Outta Sight Orange, China Glaze Solar Flare(Milani Gold is a dupe), and OPI Y'all Come Back Y'Hear. 

This one was a surprise!  Julep Taylor with a single coat of OPI Servin' Up Sparkle.  The glitter changed the colour of Taylor, which is rather periwinkle.  It was such an odd and profound shift! 

OPI Crown Me Already over OPI Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvellous.  This is my go-to for when I want to be blinding!

Until next time, George.

OPI's Dating A Royal & Rainbow Connection mattified!!!

So I had on Dating A Royal as a mani the other day.  I decided after a couple days that I wanted to upgrade it.  So I added Rainbow connection from the past Christmas collection and then to top it off I mattified it with Essie's Matte About You.

I loved the look I got.  It look as if the pieces of glitter had been falling and then they were suddenly frozen in time. Oooooooooo...

First swatch!!! OPI's Metallic 4 Life

*Throws confetti* Huzzah! So this is my first real review!!!! Yay!  So first up I have OPI's Metallic For life.  It's from the Nicki Minaj collection.  Now while I'm not a huge fan of her music I do go out of my way to learn her songs just so I can do them at Karaoke.  Out of the whole collection this was the only one I wanted (I ended up getting it as a Christmas gift).

Metallic 4 Life is a bunch of hex glitter and tiny square glitter in a black base.  Now I know I'm not a fan of glitter but this one was pretty bad ass once I got it on.

Application was a little tricky.  The formula was goopy, but I was expecting that. The first coat was really sheer and it took me three-ish coats till I stopped caring if it was opaque.  And I say three-ish because even after three coats I still had some bald patches that I fixed.

Now I don't know of or have anything like this so I'm glad I have it.  But the application was a pain so it's not something that I would just wear on a normal day.  If you're a fan of glitter and dark colours I would suggest you get it.  I know some people have said that you can get the same effect with just a plain black base and glitter on top, but I don't think so.  There's something unique and different about it because the glitter is already in the base.  And in my opinion it gives it a look you otherwise wouldn't get by putting glitter on top of a plain base.

This is for sure Valkyrie worthy. Epic stuff.